Saturday, October 24, 2015

Darryl Howard: North Carolina; He wonders when ruling on new trial will come; (Maybe Tuesday?) 15 months have passed since a judge vacated his verdict; "Defense attorneys representing Howard in his most recent quest for freedom contend that the new DNA evidence and autopsy reports showed that Washington was sexually assaulted shortly before she was strangled and beaten to death. They insist that another man is the real culprit and Howard has spent more than 20 years in prison, wrongfully committed for the deeds of someone else." The Charlotte Observer;

STORY: "NC inmate waits for Tuesdays and news," by reporter Anne Blythe, published by the Charlotte Observer on October 23, 2015.

SUB-HEADING: "Darryl Howard wonders when ruling on new trial will come;

15 months have passed since judge vacated his verdict; Howard remains in prison, while Mike Peterson has been released."

PHOTO CAPTION: "
Innocence Project defense attorneys Barry Scheck, left, and James Cooney
III, right, were happy for their client Darryl Howard when a judge
ordered a new trial in 2014."

GIST: "Darryl Anthony Howard and his attorneys usually greet every other Tuesday with the same lingering questions. The
N.C. Court of Appeals issues a fresh batch of rulings every two weeks
or so, and the lawyers and 53-year-old prison inmate wonder whether the
batch released that day will have answers for them. In July 2014,
Orlando Hudson, Durham’s chief resident Superior Court judge,
overturned two guilty verdicts for murders in 1991 that Howard maintains
he did not commit. With new DNA evidence gathered by the Innocence
Project, a national organization dedicated to exonerating the wrongfully
convicted, and statements collected by post-conviction investigators,
Hudson ruled that Howard should get a new trial. Prosecutors
appealed Hudson’s decision, and a three-judge appellate court panel
heard arguments in April. The state appeals court is scheduled to
release rulings on Tuesday, but it won’t be clear until morning whether
Howard’s case will be among the group and offer any answers.
“We’re waiting to see,” said Jim Cooney, a Charlotte attorney who helped persuade Hudson to grant Howard a new trial. For
Howard and his wife of 15 years, Nannie, the wheels of justice have
sputtered, stalled, sputtered and stalled again just when they thought
they had begun rolling in their favor. Not only have state
prosecutors appealed Hudson’s ruling, they have fought Howard’s request
for bail while the appellate judges weigh arguments for and against a
new trial.........Meanwhile,
Howard’s wife questions why the wheels of justice in her husband’s case
have not spun forward enough for him to wait for decisions in his case
outside prison walls, too. More than 20 years have passed since
Howard was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder for the
slayings of Doris Washington, 29, and her 13-year-old daughter,
Nishonda. The killings occurred in 1991 in what investigators described as drug-related crimes at a Durham public housing complex. Howard,
who was 32 when he was convicted, knew the victims and was no stranger
to Durham police then. He also was a frequent visitor at the public
housing complex where the homicides occurred. But ever since
firefighters discovered the naked bodies inside a smoke-filled
apartment, Howard has maintained that he had nothing to do with the
violent deaths.
Sperm was found on the teenage girl and collected
in an investigative rape kit. An autopsy showed that her mother had been
sexually assaulted, according to court documents. Howard was charged in
the homicides, but DNA tests excluded him as a match to the sexual
assault evidence. But
in their appeal, representatives from the state attorney general’s
office argued that Howard was overheard telling his brother that, “He
had to set the apartment on fire to hide the evidence.” In April,
Assistant Attorney General Mary Carla Babb told appeals court judges –
Ann Marie Calabria, Donna Stroud and John Tyson – that state prosecutors
believed Judge Hudson erred. She contended that defense attorneys in
1995 pointed out to jurors that DNA evidence collected from the victims
did not belong to Howard and the jury still arrived at the guilty
verdicts. But defense attorneys have pointed out that a police
document uncovered by Innocence Project researchers in the past decade
raised questions about the actions of Durham prosecutors, who pushed
ahead with the case against Howard knowing that DNA pointed to other
culprits..........The recent, more sophisticated DNA tests done by Innocence
Project researchers showed that sperm from the rape kit compiled in the
Doris Washington homicide matched that of a convicted felon, Jermeck
Jones, whose criminal history includes 35 convictions, including several
assaults against women. Defense attorneys representing Howard in
his most recent quest for freedom contend that the new DNA evidence and
autopsy reports showed that Washington was sexually assaulted shortly
before she was strangled and beaten to death. They insist that another
man is the real culprit and Howard has spent more than 20 years in
prison, wrongfully committed for the deeds of someone else. What
happens next could be revealed in the state appeals court rulings on
Tuesday, or the wait could continue for Howard, who is incarcerated in
Warren Correctional Institute while his case moves slowly through the
post-conviction legal process. “On Tuesdays, he waits to hear from us,” Cooney said."

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.I
have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses
several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of
the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this
powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and
myself get more out of the site.The
Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible
years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr.
Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of
Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic"
section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It
can be found at:http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmithInformation on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html

About Me

My interest in forensic pathology began with my Toronto Star investigative reporting into once famed since disgraced former doctor Charles Smith. I began this Blog after retiring from the Star in 2006 in order to follow the aftermath into the independent Goudge inquiry into many of Smith's cases. I have now begun to focus on cases involving flawed forensic science no matter where they occur (the recent Amanda Knox prosecution in Italy, for example) and am fascinated by the interest in the Blog from people in countries throughout the world. In another development, my interest in "junk science" "pseudo-experts" and the miscarriages of justice they all too often cause has drawn me deeply into the on-going U.S. death penalty debate where so many troubling cases involve issues relating to DNA and other developments in the world of forensic science. For all of this I rely on my experience as a reporter at the Toronto Star, my work as a lawyer in Ontario's criminal courts, and my abhorrence of injustice. Please send cases and developments which may be of interest to this Blog to hlevy15@gmail.com. Read on! Harold Levy.